Music Monday - Thinking about friends and colleagues in Melbourne and Victoria
/Of all aspects of my teaching and arts practice, vocal coaching is the one that gives me the greatest satisfaction – the biggest buzz. Over many years I think I have got better at it; mainly due to working with some outstanding singing teachers in my own training and also being lucky enough to work alongside a number of stellar speaking voice teachers in my tertiary teaching. There is nothing quite like the buzz of being part of a team putting on a show.
For the past weeks since being allowed to return onto campuses in Western Australia, I have relished being back in the rehearsal room for a performing arts high school production of Chicago. Our director was herself in the West End show for 5 years, so our lucky music theatre students are getting a genuine experience of Bob Fosse’s style as well as invaluable personal insights into Kander’s intentions. I have tried to replicate the precision of the Fosse choreography in the vocal calls and have been impressed by the performers’ willingness to engage in very detailed work on the music. These are specialist and highly motivated kids but some of their focus this time seems to come from our shared relief to be back in the rehearsal room.
And so this Monday, as Melbourne goes back to a stage 4 lockdown and regional Victoria faces stage 3 restrictions as well as mandatory mask wearing, I am musing on how easily our return to normal could backfire here in the West.
In Australia we have been lucky that government responses to the pandemic have been based on expert medical advice, rather than politicised. However, in all communities across the world there exist minority groups of science deniers, conspiracy theorists and humans who believe that their own rights and immediate convenience surpasses the common good. Victoria was unlucky enough to cop a rise in Covid-19 cases as a result of selfishness or ignorance, but it could so easily be any other state of Australia.
As our family, friends and colleagues in Victoria tough it out for the next 6 weeks for the greater good of the rest of Australia, please let arts teachers and practitioners across the country go to work with even greater resolve it order to make it all worth their while.
